Do you have problems with facial pain or teeth grinding? Or do you have a real fear of dentists and dental treatments?
Well, you’re not alone. We see and treat a good number of patients who suffer dental problems, unexplained jaw pain and headaches, and have problems opening their mouths because of Bruxism – excessive teeth grinding or jaw clenching.
We already treat many for Bruxism with in-ear devices and offer sedation for anxious patients. But, to support our experienced dental team, we are now working with hugely respected behavioural psychotherapists John Davies and Victoria Moorhead to provide an holistic approach to tackling these debilitating problems.
John has a national reputation in the use of behavioural interventions to help people who suffer from facial pain, excessive teeth clenching and grinding and those with a range of anxieties and phobias around dental care.
He said: “I’m really interested in how we can widen access to behavioural interventions for people with anxiety-based problems.
“I have a specialist interest in unexplained facial pain and Bruxism – affecting peopleboth awake and sleep – and have been developing a model for treatment that is non-invasive but combines psychological and physical approaches which work particularly for sleep Bruxism.
“I look at the relationship between what you do and how you respond. A lot of these habit disorders are driven by stress and if you don’t understand and remove it, or change your responses, then the problem will not go away.”
John has worked for over two decades as a psychotherapist in Cognitive and Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and has been closely involved in the development of services aimed at using CBT in patients with dental anxiety and dental phobia.
The fear or inability to accept routine dental care affects approximately one-third of the adult population in the UK. It has been estimated that as many as 10 per cent are phobic of dentistry and either avoid it altogether or are very distressed if they do attend a dentist.
Patients who are highly anxious about receiving dental treatment often delay or cancel appointments, have difficulty tolerating treatment whilst in the dental chair and setting with some requiring sedation.
As a result, significant deterioration in dental health is frequently reported and dental fear is reported as being the greatest difficulty faced by dentists in terms of managing their patients
Here at one80dental, we have quite a few patients who go through major anxiety and stress before any visit. Our team take care to put patients at their ease throughout, no matter how nervous they may be, with the option of sedation available where appropriate.
By working with John and Victoria, we can also offer effective, additional behavioural treatment to help anxious patients accept routine dental care more easily and with less stress.
We are planning to hold drop-in events in the near future so you can find out more so watch this space!
01142995739
